AMP in the post
According to ITV’s Director of Television Kevin Lygo, the channel’s recent temporary switch-up could translate to a shift to early streaming online.
Fans of the sudsers are aware that this summer a week’s worth of content from both shows was uploaded to the ITV Hub to make room for the Euro 2020 competition. The move meant that the sport and soap audiences could partake of their shows without major disruptions.
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Lygo told the Edinburgh TV Festival, “On soaps – it’s possible [that the soaps could stream on the hub first], it’s a possible future.”
He added, “For us, part of the restructure and its effect on commissioning is that we wanted to bring together in one place all aspects of what used to be called broadcasting, so the commercial programming and delivery so that it is more in line with modern behavior and tastes. ITV is incredibly successful at getting large numbers of people to come and watch the show at the same time.”
AMP in the post
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According to Lygo, “During the Euros we saw over 20 million people watching the England game, I think 98% of all the programs over 5 million people watching are on ITV. We are doubling down on that. It’s more live, more big events, more shows we believe will unite large swathes of the British public.”
In June soap fanatics accessed their shows early via the ITV Hub during a four-week window of time when the Euro 2020 tournament took over the airwaves.
At that time Corrie exec Iain MacLeod said, “There are loads of key rivalries across the Cobbles this summer and I think it will be like following your favorite team – there will be times where they let you down, make mistakes and maybe score a few own goals. But you’ll back them till the end and woe betide anyone else who criticizes them.”
AMP in the post
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MacLeod added that, “Given how exciting the stories are, it’s great that fans will have the chance to binge watch all the episodes on ITV Hub at the start of each week – as with football, sometimes when it’s an exciting face-off, you really want extra time.”
Over on the BBC, rival soap EastEnders also had episodes up early for viewing during the Euros via the BBC iPlayer.
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